When Good Jobs Go Bad

Going to work, for most people, is a drag. It’s not the job or the people, but the actual point of having to get out of bed when the sun is still asleep that’s the problem. That, and spending eight hours working for someone else for minimum wage can put a dampener on things. When you are fortunate enough to find a job that you love, with people you love to socialise with, you’re hitting the jackpot. It becomes a pleasure to go to work every day. It becomes a pleasure to work in your office and instead of clock-watching for the end of the day, your days go quickly.

When yougo for a job interview, you can often forget that you are interviewing the company as well. The interview isn’t just for them to decide if you are the person right for the job, but it’s a chance for you to ask questions and decide if they are right for you. If you are confident in your decision with your new job, excited to start your first day and ready to give it your all, it can become quickly sour if the job isn’t everything it promised to be. So, how does a good, exciting job prospect go badly?

Something is missing. When you start a job, you’re often given a profile of the company and shown around. When the office is impressive, the people are nice and the perks are great, it can feel like there’s going to be another shoe dropped. This often happens. When the excitement of a new position starts to wear off, you can see the missing pieces that the company glossed over in your interview. This could be that the bonus you were promised requires a two-year commitment from you first. It could be that your direct manager is a micro manager who likes to pull their rank every chance they get. Either way, it’s something that’s missing from what you want from a role.

There’s a fly in the ointment. Your job could actually be perfect, for a while at least. Your hours and wages are great, the people are nice and you have a nice desk with a view. Then someone new joins the team – either a new line manager or a colleague – andsomething changes. They become a thorn in your side. Perhaps they’re intimidating or display bullying behaviour to force results and make you feel bad about how you do things. If you ever come across this problem, getting legal help or advice is always a good thing. Awebsite like this can give you the right guidance so you can ask for help, which is always the first step. You don’t have to cope with the fly in the ointment, so don’t.

So, how do you handle this? Do you just quit? Not at first. You need to give a new job some time and as and when wrinkles start, speaking to your management teams and your colleagues to iron out those wrinkles is the first step. If it doesn’t get better, you need to evaluate whether you want to spend all your hours in a role that makes you miserable. If not? The world is your oyster.